Bandys H.S. pair wins state high-school bass-fishing title.

Catawba County team bags nice limit on Kerr Lake

Kristopher Queen and Tyler Black of Bandys High School in Catawba won the North Carolina State High School Fishing Championship on Kerr Lake this past Saturday.

Queen and Black brought to the scales a 5-fish limit that weighed 13 pounds, 5 ounces, good for a 5-ounce margin over victory over Tyler Dunn and Matthew Shrewsbury of Wilson’s Beddingfield High School, who also had a limit.

Third place went to Bobby Bauer and Jake Keever of Carson H.S., who weighed in an 11-pound, 11-ounce limit. Mason Medlin and Dawson Medlin of Clayton H.S., finished fourth with a limit that weighed 10-13, and Gerald Ramsey and Conrad Pogorzelski of East Gaston’s Bass Warriors rounded out the top five with a limit that weighed 10-10.

McKinley Puckett and William Hearn of East Gaston had the day’s big fish, a 5-pound, 13-ounce bass. They finished ninth with 9-0.

Twenty-eight teams from 12 high schools competed in the tournament. Six brought 5-fish limits to the scales; a total of 68 fish were weighed in.

The tournament was open to 2-man teams made up of students in grades 9-12. Top teams will advance to a higher level, with a series of qualifying tournaments eventually leading to the national championship, which will coincide with FLW’s TBF National Championship next spring.